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I don't know many adults who sleep with nightlights, but lots of kids do, and did you know that a red nightlight is actually better than a blue? A new study points out that red is "harmless," while blue light "had the worst effects on mood-related measures, followed closely by white light," according to newswise.com. The study was done with hamsters, and when these critters were exposed to red light at night, they had "significantly less evidence of depressive-like symptoms and changes in the brain linked to depression, compared to those that experienced blue or white light." But it's not just for kids trying to get to sleep at night. “Our findings suggest that if we could use red light when appropriate for night-shift workers, it may not have some of the negative effects on their health that white light does,” Randy Nelson, co-author of the study and professor of neuroscience and psychology at The Ohio State University, told newswise....

A new study has found that as little as 20 minutes in the sun can harm your children's eyes, according to newswise.com. What can it do?  Age the lens or damage the retina, the Web site quotes James McDonnell, MD, medical director of pediatric ophthalmology at Loyola University Health System and professor of ophthalmology at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine. Either can lead to blindness down the road. McDonnell says if a child is going to be in the sun-- playing softball, swimming, even just hanging out with friends -- he should wear sunglasses.  Now I have a 12-year-old and I know how hard it is to get kids that age to do just about anything. Even before he got contacts, and wore glasses, anyway, my son refused to wear sunglasses. I've known for some time that over-exposure to the sun can lead to cataracts in older people But I didn't know it could also affect kids' eyes. And here's the next difficult part.  Not all sunglasses are crea...